Blair calls for quotas on immigrants from 'New Commonwealth'

By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor

12:01AM BST 06 Jun 2004

It is one of the most politically sensitive issues of the day, so when ministers were called to Downing Street last month for an immigration "stock taking meeting", few expected the discussion to be mundane. They were correct.

As the meeting began, those present heard David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, and Desmond Browne, the immigration minister, warned of a "dramatic" rise in applications to come to Britain from "New Commonwealth" countries including Nigeria, Sierra Leone, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

What was needed, Mr Blunkett argued, was a quota system, backed up by tough new restrictions.

Tony Blair agreed, and called for a clampdown to prevent "abuse from the New Commonwealth countries".

An announcement should be made within weeks, the Prime Minister ordered.

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Others present at the meeting included Patricia Hewitt, the Trade Secretary, who only a month before had spoken out against the idea of quotas, describing the concept as "old-fashioned central planning".

Miss Hewitt's reaction was not noted in a leaked memo, dated May 19 and marked "confidential", of the meeting, written by Kate Gross, a No 10 policy adviser, to Dan Hartropp, a senior Home Office official.

But just in case Miss Hewitt was in any doubt about the policy U-turn that had just been agreed, the memo was copied to her office, along with those of the other key ministers at the meeting, who included Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, Andrew Smith, the work and pensions secretary, Charles Clarke, the Education Secretary, and Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor.

Miss Gross's memo, which ran to eight pages and which has been obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, went into great detail on the problems caused by Mr Blunkett's decision last summer to widen the scope of the Commonwealth Working Holiday Maker Scheme, which lets people come to Britain for two years, subsidising their stays with casual work.

Many stay on longer, switching to the more formal system of work permits at the end of their stays.

Before the changes, the scheme had almost exclusively applied to younger people from the so-called "Old Commonwealth" - Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians.

Mr Blunkett had been keen to widen its application to people from "New Commonwealth" nations but, since the reforms had been made, applications that used to run at about 40,000 a year had soared and abuse had been detected.

The leaked memo revealed proposals: "To introduce quotas based on historical take-up of the Commonwealth Holiday Maker (WHM) scheme before the recent increase in applications. These quotas to be reviewed annually."

"To introduce new restrictions, so that the WHM was only available to nationals from countries with a satisfactory return arrangement with the UK; to abolish in-country switching into work-permit employment; add/revise the requirement to have funds to cover settling-in costs and return travel; and make the tests as objective as possible."

The memo went on to spell out the political sensitivity of effectively limiting the numbers of black and Asian people who could use one of Britain's immigration schemes, under the heading "points made in discussion".

These included: "Quotas would require careful handling to avoid accusations or perceptions of discrimination, while closing down the scope for abuse."

"The Government had been a victim of its own success in making the scheme more accessible to 'New Commonwealth' countries.

As a result, WHM applications had risen dramatically." The memo added: "Summing up the discussion, the Prime Minister said that the Home Office should tighten the Working Holiday Makers scheme, with a view to ending potential abuse by those from the 'New Commonwealth' countries."

The proposed U-turn, which Downing Street admitted was imminent last night, follows Mr Blunkett's problems with immigration and asylum statistics.

The Government's strategy last summer was to tighten the asylum system but to make it easier for people to enter Britain legally on various immigration schemes.

However, this led to the sort of problems outlined in the leaked memo.

Under the "stock taking" system put in place by the Prime Minister, such glitches are now meant to be identified earlier and action taken immediately.

Last night, Downing Street abandoned its usual practice of not commenting directly on leaked documents, disclosing that the issues addressed by the memo were being urgently considered and proposals for action would be made public "soon".

A Government official close to Mr Blunkett went further, claiming: "We have found some abuse - but it's not widespread. If it had been, we would simply close the system down, which is not something we want to do."